What should a web design brief include?
It should include the business, the buyer, the goal, the pages, the content, the features and the practical details. That's it. A designer can work with plain answers far better than a long document full of adjectives.
If you only write one section, write the goal. A site built to get quote requests from commercial buyers looks and reads differently from one built to sell products to the public.
How to brief a web designer: the step-by-step method
Work through these in order and you'll have a usable brief in about an hour.
- Describe the business in three sentences: what you sell, where, and what makes you different.
- Describe your best customers: who they are, what they search for and what worries them before they buy.
- Name the main action you want visitors to take, and a second one if there is one.
- List the pages you think you need. The designer may suggest changes, but it's a starting point.
- Share three to five sites you like, and say what you like about each one. Add one you don't like, and why.
- Gather your brand assets: logo files, colours, fonts and any brand guidelines.
- Say who writes the copy and who supplies photos. If it's the designer, say so up front.
- List the features: forms, booking, a shop, a members' area, or links to your CRM or other systems.
- Note what already works: pages that rank, bring in enquiries or have links pointing at them.
- Add the practical details: deadline, budget, domain and hosting logins, and one person who signs off.
- Say how you'll judge success after launch, such as more enquiries or fewer phone calls asking basic questions.
Why does the brief matter so much?
Because most slow or disappointing website projects fail on decisions, not design. When nobody has decided what the site should say or do, the design goes round in circles.
A clear brief also gets you a more accurate price. A designer can only quote fairly for the job they can see.
What do web designers wish clients told them?
The things that seem obvious to you are often the ones a designer can't guess.
- Why customers pick you over the competition, in their words.
- The questions you answer on the phone every week.
- Anything you've tried before that didn't work.
- Who else has to approve the site, even informally.
- Dates that matter, such as a trade show, a launch or a busy season.
What should you leave out of a web design brief?
Leave out design instructions that don't explain a goal, such as make it pop or more modern. Say what you want the visitor to feel or do, and let the designer work out how.
Leave out a full sitemap of every page you might ever want, and long histories of the company. Keep the brief to what helps someone build the right site now.
How should you give feedback once the design starts?
Quickly, in one place, from one person. Collect comments from colleagues first, settle any disagreements, then send one clear set of changes.
Review on your phone as well as a laptop, because that's where most visitors will see it. Point to the goal when you give feedback: this section doesn't explain the price is clearer than I don't like it.